Support means for a display stand

ABSTRACT

Support means for use in connection with an upright on a display stand, said support means comprising a pair of plastic molded plate members each having a hub portion which engages the tubular upright on which the support means is positioned. Said plate members are adapted to support therebetween a plurality of radially extending arms on which objects to be displayed are hung and/or supported.

O 11 a 1 Unite iates 11 1 1111 $7,499 Levinthal Jan. 29-, 1974 [54] SUPPORT MEANS FOR A DHSPLAY ST 1 1,109,279 9/1914 Butterworth 211/95 1,279,702 9/1918 James 211/96 [75] Invent: Lmmlnwwd, 1,697,866 1/1929 Hansen 211/163 x 1,770,227 7/1930 Buckingham 211/163 [73] Assignee: RTC Industries inc, Chicago, 111. Primary Examiner-Ramon S. Britts [22] Flled: 1972 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Max R. Kraus [21] Appl. No.: 232,760

. [57] ABSAUE [52] 11.5. C1. 211/163 pp means for use in connection with an upright 51 Int. Cl. A4171 5/02 on p y Stand, Said pp means Comprising a 58 Field of Search..... 11/163, 168, 95, 96, 59, 57, p of plastic molded plate members each having a 11/123 hub portion which engages the tubular upright on which the support means is positioned. Said plate 5 Ref Cited members are adapted to support therebetween a plu- UNITED STATES PATENTS rality of radially extending arms on which objects to Y i be displayed are hung and/or supported. 223,963 1/1880 Taylor 211/96 X 621,130 3/1899. Peyton 211/168 X 1 Claim, 8 Drawing Figures 1 SUPPORT MEANSFOR A DISPLAY STAND BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Various types of hanger supports are used in connection with uprights which form display stands, however, in the main, the hanger support means are made of metal components which have to be brazed or welded. This is a tedious job and adds considerably to the cost of the support means.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide hanger support means in which the main body of the support member is formed of a pair of plate-like members molded of plastic and each centrally provided with a hub which engages the tubular upright on which the support means is positioned. Supported between the two plates are arms which extend radially outwardly of the plates, the inner end of said arms being anchored between said plates. The said pair of plates with the radiating arms may be readily secured together so that the radiating arms are held in locked or secured position between the plates, with the outer ends of the arms extending outwardly thereof so that the outer ends may serve as hooks or the like on which an object to be displayed is hung or supported.

Another object of this invention is to provide support means which may be economically produced and which may be readily assembled without brazing or soddering of the components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings: v 1 FIG. 1 is a perspective view of..the support means mounted on an upright to form a support for hanging articles. I FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the parts.

' FIG. 3 is a view of the support means taken from the underside thereof.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view taken on line 44 of FIG. 1 with a portion broken away. FIG. Sis a top plan view taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a .view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7-of FIG. 4, and

FIG. 8 is aview of a modified arm to be used with the s'up'portmeans. i

The support means is generally designated by the numeral 10 and is formed of an upper member 12 and a separate bottom member 14 between which are supported radiating arms generally indicated at 16. The upper member 12 comprises an annular plate or disklike member 18 having a central upwardly extending annular hub or sleeve The hub or sleeve 20 has an upwardlyand inwardly inclined surface, best seen in FIG. 7, and the upper annular portion of the inside wall of the hub, designated by the numeral 22, comprises the smallest diameter of the hub and said annular surface 22 forms the upper bearing surface, as will be subsequently described.

The plate'18 is provided with four equidistant spaced openings 24, the upper portion of which is countersunk as at 25 and each of said openings is surrounded by an annular depending wall or boss 26. The bosses 26 are adapted to cooperate with alined openings in the bottom member 14.

The bottom member 14 is formed to provide an annular disk or plate 30 provided with an upstanding annular flange or rim 32 which is provided with spaced openings or recesses 34. The bottom plate is provided with a central hub or sleeve 36, a portion 38 of which extends upwardly of the bottom disk with the major portion 40 of the hub extending below said plate. The lower end of the hub has an inside annular wall surface 42 of reduced dimension which forms the bearing surface for the lower hub. The diameter of the bottom opening of the hub bounded by the surface 42 is the same as at the top adjacent the surface 22.

The bottom disk is provided on the underside thereof with spaced depending bosses 44 with a central bore 46 communicating with the opening 48 in the disk. The lower end of the boss is closed. The underside of the bottom disk is also provided with spaced radiating ribs 50 alined with the bosses 44. Said radiating ribs 50 are positioned underneath the spaced recesses 34 and provide support for the radiating arms 16. The bottom edge of the radiating rib 50 between the hub and boss is horizontal as at 52 and then inclines or slopes upwardly as at 54 to the outer exterior of the plate. The bottom plate 14 is also provided with a plurality of equally spaced openings 56 to be alined with the openings 24 in the top plate 18.

The two plates 18 and 30 are adapted to support a plurality of radiating arms 16, all of generally similar construction. Each arm is formed of a rod-like material of a rigid metal having an elongated portion 58 with a downwardly turned inner end 59 with the outer end turned upwardly as at 60 to form a hook. Each arm is positioned on the lower plate member 30 so that the downwardly turned inner end 59 is received within the opening48 and the bore 46 of the bosses 44, and the arm extends forwardly and is alined with the recess 34 in the rim 32 and extends exteriorly thereof. When the arms 16 are positioned in the lower plate 38, as aforesaid, the arms will extend through the recesses 34 in the rim 32 and will be prevented from shifting laterally by said recesses.

With the arms in position, the upper plate 18 is positioned so that it rests on the upper edge 35 of the flange or rim 32 and the openings 24 in the upper plate will be alined with the openings 56 in the lower plate. The upper and lower hubs 20 and 36 will likewise be alined. It will be noted that the inwardly extending upper portion 38 of the lower hub 36 fits within the lower portion of the upper hub 20 and serves to properly seat the two hubs together. The two plates 18 and 30 may be attached to each other by any suitable fastening means such as eyelets 62. Once the two plates are attached with the arms sandwiched therebetween there is no necessity for detachment of the two plates.

While there is shown a unit with eight radiating arms, it will be understood that there can be a lesser or greater number of arms. It will also be understood that the outer ends of the arms instead of as shown may be looped, as shown in FIG. 8 and indicated by the numeral 64, or of any other cQnfiguFation so that articles may be hung or supported on said arms or in said looped ends.

The unit forming this invention is intended to be supported on an upright such as shown in FIG. 1. The upright generally indicated at 66 may be formed of a tubular metal stock which may comprise a single tube or may be in sections arranged in telescopic relation and in which the lower portion of the upright is suitably secured to a base 68 so that the upright is supported in a vertical position. The upright and/or base may be of conventional construction.

In mounting the support means on an upright, the assembled hub portion of the unit is positioned on the upright and the upper and lower portions 22 and 42 respectively of the hubs will make bearing contact with the tube of the upright 66, with the balance or intermediate portion of the hubs being free or out of contact with the tube. Thus, the support means unit is supported at the upper and lower ends by the two joined hubs or bearing surface as described. The support means unit may be rotated around the upright if desired. A pin or like member 70 may be inserted to extend transversely through the upright tube so that the support member rests oh said pin, or other means may be provided for supporting the support unit on the upright or post.

If desired, any number of such support units may be positioned on a single upright in spaced relation from each other and each of such units may be supported by means of a transverse pin or a circular clamp What is claimed is:

1. A display stand comprising a vertical upright and means forming a support unit on said upright, said means including a pair of plate-like members, namely, an upper plate and a lower plate each integrally molded of plastic material, with both of said plate members having substantially the same circumference and each having a central opening and a hub extending outwardly of each said plate in opposite directions, with one of said plates having a sleeve portion extending into the hub portion of the other plate, one of said plate members having an axially extending peripheral rim with spaced recesses, a plurality of radially extending arms supported between said plate-like members and having a portion. thereof sandwiched between said plate-like members and extending through the spaced recesses in the rim and a portion extending exteriorly of the plate-like members for supporting articles thereon, said arms having axially turned ends, one of said plates provided with a plurality of spaced openings for receiving the axially turned ends of said arms, means positioned exteriorly of said central openings for securing said plate-like members to each other, with said central openings, hubs and sleeve aligned and said hubs and sleeve forming the bearing surfaces which engage said vertical upright which extends through said central openings above and below said plate-like members with the support unit rotatably supported on the upright, means on the upright positioning said support unit on said upright. 

1. A display stand comprising a vertical upright and means forming a support unit on said upright, said means including a pair of plate-like members, namely, an upper plate and a lower plate each integrally molded of plastic material, with both of said plate members having substantially the same circumference and each having a central opening and a hub extending outwardly of each said plate in opposite directions, with one of said plates having a sleeve portion extending into the hub portion of the other plate, one of said plate members having an axially extending peripheral rim with spaced recesses, a plurality of radially extending arms supported between said plate-like members and having a portion thereof sandwiched between said plate-like members and extending through the spaced recesses in the rim and a portion extending exteriorly of the plate-like members for supporting articles thereon, said arms having axially turned ends, one of said plates provided with a plurality of spaced openings for receiving the axially turned ends of said arms, means positioned exteriorly of said central openings for securing said plate-like members to each other, with said central openings, hubs and sleeve aligned and said hubs and sleeve forming the bearing surfaces which engage said vertical upright which extends through said central openings above and below said plate-like members with the support unit rotatably supported on the upright, means on the upright positioning said support unit on said upright. 